Christiana Gaudet

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Confidence

Concept illustration of jungle animals sitting on a tree branch.

The concept of confidence comes up very often in tarot readings for clients. I imagine it comes up for people doing self-readings as well.

Confidence is important. If we lack personal confidence, we are not likely to be successful. If we can’t muster confidence, we might blame our lack of success on external factors. For example, “I can’t get a job because no one is hiring,” or “There are no people I am interested in dating anywhere in my city.”

While there may be few available opportunities for us, a lack of confidence will cause us to believe that the number of opportunities is and will always be zero.

A lack of self-confidence can lead to negative self-talk. This is a hurtful vicious cycle.

However, when we embrace confidence, our chances of achieving our personal and professional desires significantly improve. Confidence has a magnetic effect, enhancing our appeal.

Sometimes, we put our trust in unreliable people or ideas that offer us comfort. When we do this, we are placing confidence where we should not. Sometimes, we do this because it feels easier to have confidence in others than in ourselves. When we do not have confidence in ourselves, we are likely to trust the wrong things.

We need to ask ourselves why we trust others more than we trust ourselves. Why are we not worthy of our own confidence?

When we understand our value, skills, abilities, and worth, we can be appropriately confident in ourselves and judicious about who and what we trust.

One trick to developing confidence is to ‘fake it ‘til you make it.’ That’s right – pretend you are confident. Act the way you would act if you were confident.

Very quickly, that fake confidence becomes the real deal.

Many people lack confidence because of the ways others have treated them. We must never let others define or dictate what is true for and about us.

The StaarCon 5 Imagining of Pixie Arcana. Art and composition by Stacey Williams-Ng, backgrounds by Animix.

The StaarCorner

StaarCon 2024 AfterGlow

Tomorrow, Thursday, April 25 at 7 pm EDT. Join Frank Kwiatkowski in his lounge for Famous Foursomes: An AfterGlow Gathering to Celebrate the Elements in Pop Culture

At this year’s StaarCon, Frank Kwiatkowski presented a celebration of the elements through various famous foursomes from pop culture. Fire, Water, Air, and Earth came alive as we watched a funny clip from “Sex and the City” and a rocking performance by The Who!

Join us for this fun Afterglow presentation, where attendees will play the “Foursome Elemental Match Game.” You’ll never look at the elements – or your favorite movies and television shows – the same way again!

StaarCon 5

We have three headliners at StaarCon 5, and I am very excited to introduce you to our Saturday headliner, Cardsy B!

Rebecca Szymczak -aka Cardsy B- is an author, intuitive tarot reader, and wellness influencer. Her work has been featured in Nylon, Elle, Bustle, Forbes, and The Zoe Report. She has collaborated with global brands like Gucci, BCBG MaxAzria, and HULU. She writes tarot-scope columns for various magazines and digital platforms and works as the "Wellness Witch in Residence" at NYC's The Algonquin Hotel. She is also the host of the award-winning Hex and the City podcast and author of the acclaimed memoir The Saturn Diaries: A Modern Day Grimoire.

We are excited to meet and learn from Rebecca at StaarCon 5!

StaarCon 5 scheduled headliner Cardsy B.

A woman in meditative silence.

Can You Be Confident in Your Intuition?

Here is a pet peeve of mine. Tarot readers and spiritual teachers love to tell people to trust their intuition. Yet, those teachers never seem to share information on how to recognize intuition or separate the voice of intuition from the voices of fear and desire.

It's a common narrative I encounter. People tell me their intuition led them astray while they tried to practice that trust. But here's my viewpoint: your intuition wasn't wrong. You wrongly perceived an idea or a feeling as intuition. The very definition of intuition is that it will never be wrong.

How can we confidently trust that what we feel is our intuition? I don’t think we always can or should. Yet, we can still be confident in our connection to guidance and in our divining abilities.

I hear many tips from people about recognizing intuition that feel misleading. Some suggestions include always trusting your first thought or that it is always true if an idea comes to you three times or more.

Establishing hard and fast rules about something as amorphous as intuition, psychic development, or spirit communication feels like a mistake to me.

Intuitive work, divination, and mediumship are about being in the flow of energy. That flow stops as soon as we focus on rules and admonitions.

The easiest way to be a confident intuitive or psychic is to accept that you might sometimes be wrong.

This practice starts with using words like “might” and “may” while remaining open to the flow of information that offers clarification.

This keeps us out of our ego, whose attachment to being right can close off our intuition.

When we listen for our internal intuitive voice, we must listen for the quietest whisper. So often, the voices of fear and desire shout. We must quiet those voices to hear our intuition.

Intuition can come in a moment, but it can also come as part of a process. When we give ourselves time to divine, meditate, check in with ourselves, or puzzle something out, we are more likely to find the truth we can trust.

Choosing and Using Tarot Cards April 24th, 7pm YouTube Live.

The Week in Review

Join us on my YouTube channel tonight for a free live-stream webinar about the many types of tarot decks, traditions, and other card-based divination systems. Join us for Choosing and Using Tarot Decks tonight at 7 pm EDT.

Did you catch our class on the Spectrum of a Tarot Card last Thursday? You can watch the replay!

From Around the Web

Here is a tarot spread from Incandescent Tarot for harnessing self-confidence. This spread packs a big punch in just five cards.

Joe Monteleone presented at StaarCon 2023 and 2024. Did you know that his website offers amazing free ebook downloads for tarot study?

Christine Leiser emceed our Bardic Circle at StaarCon 2024. I love her article about Prayer, Meditation, Intention, and Ritual.

A confident woman looking in her mirror.

Making Magic

There are many ways to use magic to increase personal confidence. Here are a few of my favorites.

Use tarot cards! Which tarot cards represent confidence to you? I like the Sun, the Six of Wands, the Hierophant, and the Nine of Pentacles. You can carry tarot images with you to use their energy to boost your confidence.

Use color! Yellow and red are colors that can increase your confidence. Wearing these colors can help. Burning candles of this color can help.

Use stones! Carnelian and citrine are two of the many stones that can help us increase our confidence. Pop one in your pocket or purse to help you be confident throughout the day.

Cards and Conversation Tarot Meetup, Sunday, May 5, in Palm City Florida.

Upcoming Events

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Card and Craft Academy

Classes presented by Christiana are available right now at Card and Craft Academy!

Christiana’s Candle Magick
Christiana’s Eleven-Card Celtic Cross
Finding Meaning in the Minor Arcana
The Major Arcana, Magical and Mundane
Practical Tarot Techniques
Psychic Tarot
Personal Tarot: Reading for Yourself
Sharing Wisdom: Reading for Others
The Meaning and Magic of Tarot Reversals
Journey Through the Major Arcana
Your Journey Through the Minor Arcana: Numbers, Elements and Truth
Tarot Beyond the Veil
Your Journey Through the Tarot Court
Tarot Stories, Trends, and Blends
Tarot Readings for Personalities and Relationships
Clarity in Every Tarot Card
Tarot Flow Workshop
Making Magick with Tarot
Fearless Wisdom Tarot Workshop
Tarot Keywords and Interpretations Workshop
Tarot Spreads Tools and Techniques Workshop
Tarot for Magic and Mediumship
Tarot Communication for Clarity and Depth
Weaving the Tarot Reading Story
The Elemental Major Arcana
Minor Arcana Numbers, Elements, and Truth
Personal Healing with Tarot
Create and Interpret Custom Tarot Spreads
What the Court Cards Want You to Know
How Spirit Speaks Through Tarot

Catch up on your missed Zoom webinars and more!

cardandcraftacademy.com

Christiana Gaudet outside her office in Niantic, Connecticut, circa 2003.

About Christiana Gaudet

Card and Craft, Inc.
Southeastern Tarot Artists and Readers, LLC.

Christiana Gaudet

3559 SW Corporate Parkway
Palm City, Florida 34990-8152

Email cgaudet@cardandcraft.com
On the web www.christianagaudet.com
Online classes www.cardandcraftacademy.com
StaarCon information www.staarcon.com

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Private telephone, Skype, FaceTime, Zoom, and in-person readings and instruction are available by appointment.

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Call toll free 866-99TAROT (866-998-2768)
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Tarot Topics Newsletter
Volume 7 Issue 17
April 24, 2024

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